Nikki – Welcome to Muze’s Musings Nick. I’ve got some questions for you about your work and your book. In your bio, I read that you have been a musician, composer, photographer, an audio engineer, an Entertainment Director and Technical Director, a successful self-made money manager and you just opened a restaurant. Would you like to pick your favorite experience and tell us a little about it?
Nick - Everything leads to something else in life but we never know what that will be do we? I am fortunate that I have this curiosity that drives me to different things that are of an artistic bent. The Big Sur trip at 16 inspired the photography interest and then 35 years later it inspires a book. My boredom of living in my home town when I first left college after a semester before going back 2 years later inspired me to learn guitar and that inspired me to go back to college and really learn music. My college experiences lead me to pianos, tympani, drums, electronic music computers (Moog and the ARP) and productions with photography and music combined and that took me to script writing and composing. As one the wisest men that ever walked on this planet said, "follow your bliss," and that was Joseph Campbell. Of course, I didn't know that when I was doing these things but I naturally gravitated to those beliefs. I can't pick one as they are all special in their own way.
Nikki – How did you settle on basing the restaurant around Wyatt Earp? That’s interesting and I must say that I scanned your menus and things look great.
Nick - It is located next to a bar named Doc Holliday's and we share a common door so that seemed like a good fit as they were both best friends and did exactly what we were doing. One ran the restaurant and the other ran the gambling and saloon parlor in the Old West. We certainly couldn't call La Travitoria or Le Bistro and the whole theme fits in with Vegas so we fused the cuisine to blend a number of influences from Wild West Ribs to Sesame Ahi Tuna. The menu also has a sheriff's star next to our house specials that we call "Virgil's Favorite" in honor of Wyatt's brother who was the Marshal of Tombstone.
Nikki – I was reading the synopsis for Only Moments on your website and I thought it was interesting to set the stage in 2020 and then jump back in time 50 years. I’m getting ready to do some major revisions to a story and am looking at any possibility. Why did you choose this approach and how much time do you spend in 2020, before going back to your character’s teenage years?
Nick - The story is about a musician who is 66 years-old and he travels back in time to recapture the essence of his "soul" and to redeem himself for losing his purpose in life after his virtuoso violinist wife and soulmate passes on many years before. We spend just enough time (one whole day) to explore the future's vision of technology and how it cannot replace the human heart. He is very depressed but this one day is different and he doesn't know why. I can't tell you why because I will give away the whole story, but suffice it to say he feels totally different this day and his entire life changes because of it.
Nikki – You mention this problem in the characters’ relationship – “…and then the crisis of having grown so far apart despite being with each other constantly.” What are your thoughts on this problem? Do you think a lot of couples face this problem? If so, are there any things that you feel contribute to this issue in relationships?
Nick - It is very had to keep the spice and affection in a long marriage as there are doors that everyone goes through as we age together. First we are in lust with butterflies abounding. Then we settle down and begin to look at compatiblity issues and that's when the lovey-dovey stuff begins to fade as we see things we don't like and want to change them in each other. They begin get in the way of intimacy but someone has to compromise or the garbage will never go out to the can, and the dishes will not get done, and the floor will not get vacuumed, and let's not even talk about the bathroom! So, we begin to take our lust and it matures to be able to live together without arguing over all these things. Some couples make it though this state, some don't. That next stage is the acceptance of faults that one cannot change and both are now at peace with them, what I mean is, they do not cause friction anymore and the relationship becomes comfortable and the fantasy of leaving the relationship for a "wandering wonderlust" ends. Being with the same person is very very difficult, however romantic one would like to make it seem, but the reward of staying that course is total trust and honesty and is something that is immeasurable to those who realize the wonderful aspect of a monogamous relationship.
Nikki – In your backstory section, you talk about breaking the rules. Tell us about the rules, how you broke them and how that made the story better. I’ve always thought it was fun to break some of the rules and it can certainly add to a story.
Nick - The story was written in the first person and that is the most descriptive and active voice that one can write. Third person is voyeuristic and lacks the emotion of the first. The one downside of writing in one person's perspective is that it is extremely difficult to get into the mind of anyone else, to share their secret thoughts as your are essentially narrating the story with a different person. I wanted the readers to understand Angela, her faults, her neediness, and her inner thoughts about Chris so when she is involved in the World Trade Tower disaster with her father, I have her crossover to a near death experience and at that the point the voice crosses over as well and the reader realizes it is her speaking. That is a breach of the original first person's perspective. I only use her voice when she is in a semi-unconscious state-but still at that point I've broken a rule and breached a singular first person. It occurs so naturally that few will even concern themselves and most will be happy to have that insight into Angela's deepest feelings. I was happy to break the rule and still have it all make sense. It is the way I was taught music by my mentor Dr. Leonard Klein. You can break the rules but first you must know the rules. In music, in the arts, in life.
Nikki – I noticed the explanation about liberties you took in the story and how they deviated from facts. Have you gotten any flack from others about playing with the facts to make the story more effective?
Nick - Other than taking reality and changing the times they occurred I really didn't play with the facts. In the original I had an outdoor concert event prior to Woodstock, called the Atlantic City Pop festival that I attended and saw Janis Joplin live and up close. After I edited that section out as it really didn't drive the plot regardless how interesting it was, I still wanted to include her in the climax so I made up a video tape that never appeared on the Midnite Special with Wolfman Jack. The Midnite Special debuted in 1971 not 1970 so there's another alteration. Fiction is fiction and if I wanted to write my autobiography that would have been a no-no. The book contains many things that happened to me, The meeting of Delphina who fortold Chris' future (though a different name) on the beach was real, I still have the bell she gave me. The Hatchet Murders, the Zodiac Killer in the area, the young kids who knew of Charlie Manson, Jimmy's sleeping bag on fire, the Buick flying through the air-all that was true. The incredible views on the rock they first lost their virginity was real, I've climbed it when I had the ability to do so. Much more happened but the focus was on "Chris" and not just this escapade.
Some of the futuristic incidents such as Chris' and Angela's separation was a conglomeration of reality and fiction somewhat based on the breakup of my own first marriage . The New York experience mirrors my time there exploring the city for many years.
But the book remains fictional and it is first and foremost a love story that shows unlimited devotion even after one mate dies. The story centers around the unconditional love of a man and woman that works its way through the decades. When we open up the first chapter, we already know Chris' wife is long gone and he has suffered greatly. The depression he allows himself to stay in for so long, changes as he begins to recount the past-though involuntarily.
Nikki – Its fascinating that you had an experience that was like the out of body experience you had describes years ago in your book. How did that affect you? Did it convince you that it was time to finish the book and get it published?
Nick - I can tell you, there was no St. Peter, there was no heaven, no hell, no judgement. It was a beautiful experience until I realized that I was fading into nothingness. At that point I asked for and received, a future vision of what would happen to my wife. That vision was extremely disturbing as I saw her in hysterics, crying and so emotionally distraught that I knew I had to fight to avoid becoming absorbed into the golden river that lay before me. I intend to write this experience in a non-fictional book, it is just very difficult to bring some of those memories up as they still to this day paralyze me mentally and make me very sad. Suffice to say that there were visions of many other things that I won't go into right now. So, I forced my way back once I made the decision or perhaps I should say I was "allowed" to make that decision. One must understand that I just came out of emergency surgery 2 days earlier and I was taken off the morphine/valium drip because my heart was stopping-that left me in extreme pain. I was in critical condition and wired to ICU's monitoring system. The cross-over was painless and took all of my pain away, so it was initially very wonderful. I knew I was going back to extreme pain but chose to do so in order to tell my wife and everyone else that it was okay to die. It wasn't something one should fear. I had to let them know in order that if I should die again while there in the hospital, they would understand and not be so forlorn. My devotion to my wife was the main impetus for me to return even though I knew I might be spending the rest of my life in pain on top of the severe diabetes that I have to deal with each day. Much of what I experienced mirrored my writing years ago, though not exactly, but the scenes were similar. Being such a skeptic that demands empirical evidence, I asked for the charts from ICU and was shown that I indeed had flatlined during the time that I went over at approximately 2 in the morning. That night after coming back I stood next to the bed waiting for them to come in with the defibulators and they did so a few minutes later and stopped in their tracks somewhat in shock looking at me. I told them I was alright, to put them down, as they almost seemed determined to use them on me from what their machines told them. That experience changed my mode of thinking immediately upon returning to the land of the living and despite the whatever attempts I've made to disprove it, it did happen.
In short, I recovered, although my left leg is still disabled from nerve damage that is more than likely permanent, I moved on with a new determination to get this book published among other things. This reinforcement of my life’s search renewed the vigor of discovery within me and regardless of the medical problems that I face daily, I live life knowing what is to come and unafraid of death.
Nikki – So, what’s your next project?
Nick - This non-fictional subject matter will hopefully be the basis for my next book, to share the incredible things I’ve been through with my near death experience and how it showed me that the things I believed in, the core of my beliefs, were really right in line with what I went through.
Nikki – Do you want to share your website address and the address where people can buy a copy of your book?
Nick - www.onlymomentsbook.com or Amazon
Nikki – Thank you for taking your time to tell us more about your book.
Nick - Thank you so very much for having me here today.
1 comment:
Cool interview!
Malcolm
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